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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27465634">Attempting to Understand</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zed777/pseuds/Zed777'>Zed777</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Angst, Author Is Sleep Deprived, Autistic Entrapta (She-Ra), Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Entrapta Being Entrapta (She-Ra), Entrapta is Bad at Feelings (She-Ra), Fluff and Angst, Guilt, Hurt/Comfort, Mermista is Bad at Feelings, Other, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, brief use of the R-slur, they're trying</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-11-09</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-11-08</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 18:15:50</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,040</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27465634</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zed777/pseuds/Zed777</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>In a moment of frustration, Mermista snaps at Entrapta and says something she immediately wished she could take back. Now the others are pushing her to spend more time with the scientist to help both of them gain a better understanding of each other</p>
<p>-----<br/>I know this is a less common ship, but I really like these two.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Entrapta &amp; Mermista (She-Ra), Entrapta/Mermista (She-Ra)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>3</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>30</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Attempting to Understand</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>It turns out, rebuilding Salineas wasn’t as easy a process as the princesses first anticipated. They had to rebuild the castle, their homes, the ships, and the gate. That last one has been giving them the most problems. Adora was able to repair the sea gate the first time she was here, but rebuilding it is a completely different story. Just because first one’s tech tends to listen to Adora doesn’t mean she knows anything about it. In fact, she’d been pretty clueless the whole time. And Entrapta’s knowledge of first one’s tech is limited to what she has to study, and it’s hard to study the Salineas Sea Gate when some parts of it were destroyed beyond recognition and some parts had been swept down the current had had to be retrieved from the bottom of the ocean. They’d been working on repairs for months at this point, and it was clear the time and frustration were wearing on Mermista. Her usual impassive and sarcastic personality was replaced with genuine agitation. She’s snapped at a lot of the princesses in the past few weeks but they all knew not to take any of it personally. Then again, before this day, she never took it quite as far. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>They’d all been tired, but Mermista was pissed. They had spent the past week scouring the ocean, looking for a vital piece of the sea gate that had drifted out to sea. Entrapta, with the assistance of Hordack, Wrong Hordack, and Bow, had been able to replicate and reproduce the transmitters by studying the ones that weren’t as damaged. But the power source wasn’t something she could replace if she’s never seen it before and try as they might, they couldn’t find the original. Adora, Bow, Glimmer, and Catra (who went reluctantly) had just returned from another futile search and were now encouraging Mermista to stop searching for now and focus on rebuilding homes and ships first, so they’d have more resources to continue looking later on.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“No! We have to rebuild the gate FIRST!”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Mermista-” Glimmer started.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I said NO, Glimmer! UGH!” Mermista ran a tired hand through her hair. “The last time I left Salineas unprotected. It- It got-” The rest of her sentence got choked off as she tried to suppress a sob. Adora, Bow, and Glimmer watched Mermista with concern. Catra took a few steps back, looking a combination of guilty and concerned. Even Entrapta, who was working on something on the other side of the room, was shaken out of whatever tech-trance she had been in when she heard Mermista start to break down. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“But that won’t happen again…” Adora said, trying to pacify her friend, “the Horde’s been defeated. Hell, </span>
  <em>
    <span>Hordack himself </span>
  </em>
  <span>is out there right now trying to help us rebuild. But we can’t do anything if we’re using all our resources on the gate.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“No, Adora! You don’t get it!”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Then help me understand”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Mermista, we want to help you…” Bow began to chime in. And just like that, everyone was talking over each other. Or at least that’s what it sounded like to Mermista who was just barely keeping it together. Every sound seemed to overlap and was ten times at grating as the pit of anger spread through her gut, her chest, her shoulders, and her jaw. Then, Entrapta was standing next to her with that damned tape-recorder and that goddamn nasal voice caused her to snap.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Princess Mermista appears to be feeling guilty about leaving her kingdom unprotected,” the scientist mumbled into her log, “She is now attempting to atone for it with an unproductive mission to repair the sea gate; despite it no longer serving a purpo-”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“GODDAMN IT ENTRAPTA, JUST SHUT UP,” Mermista shouted, slapping the tape recorder out of the other girl’s hand, causing her to flinch. “WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU KNOW!? YOUR RETARDED!”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“...”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Everyone in the room stopped at that. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Mermista…” Glimmer reprimanded softly. </span>
</p>
<p><span>The Salineas princess, for her part, appeared genuinely taken aback by her own words. </span> <span>“I-I didn’t… Entrapta, I-” She stopped when she saw the look on Entrapta’s face. Her eyes were glued to the floor, looking duller than anyone had ever seen them. When they started to water up, she flicked her goggles over them and took a step back. </span></p>
<p>
  <span>“Ex-excuse me, but I have to go update Emily now.” She bolted out of the room before anyone could stop her.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Dude…” Bow started as She-Ra transformed back into Adora.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Mermista, what the hell?” Adora admonished. “I get that your frustrated but that was too far.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I know! Okay? I Know! She was just-... and I was-. UGH!” Mermista slapped both hands over her face and slid down that wall. The other four shot each other a look before sitting down next to her. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You should apologize…” Bow said, finally able to get out a complete thought without getting interrupted. “No one likes to feel like they don’t belong. And you know Entrapta’s already a little insecure about her social skills.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Mermista dropped her head into her knees. “...Maybe I should give her time before I apologize.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“The longer you put it off, the harder it’ll be,” Catra said, shocking everyone by speaking for the first time, “for both of you.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Mermista turned her head to look at the magicat, who always looked a bit guilty in her presence. But now, she earnestly met Mermista’s eyes for the first time.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I… Maybe your right…” Mermista reluctantly got up, forcing herself not to hesitate before heading in the same direction Entrapta ran off to. If she were to stall she would talk herself out of it. As she walked down the halls of the Salineas Castle, she rehearsed what she should say in her head. She could tell her that she was just really stressed and didn’t mean it, but that sounds too much like she’s making excuses. She could say that Entrapta’s log was too invasive and it made her snap, but that would sound too much like she was blaming Entrapta (which is definitely not what she’s going for). The most obvious choice is to just say outright that she’s sorry and she fucked up...but apologizing really wasn’t her thing.</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>The next chapter will be from Entrapta's point of view. Get ready for angst!</p></blockquote></div></div>
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